Introduction of Women’s Health Protection Act is Critical Step in Safeguarding Reproductive Rights for All U.S. Women

11.13.13 - (PRESS RELEASE) Today
Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Representative Judy Chu,
Representative Lois Frankel and Representative Marcia Fudge introduced
the Women’s Health
Protection Act of 2013—an historic piece of legislation
designed to enforce and protect the rights of every woman to obtain a full
range of safe and legal reproductive health care and decide for herself whether
to continue or end a pregnancy, regardless of where she lives, within the
framework of regulations and limits recognized in Roe v. Wade.

Said Nancy Northup, president and
CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:

“After years of relentless assaults
by politicians on their health and rights, women across the U.S. face a health
care crisis of catastrophic proportions. The introduction of the Women’s Health
Protection Act is a crucial step toward defending access to critical
reproductive health care and the individual constitutional rights of every
woman.

“From Texas to North Dakota, Arizona
to North Carolina, the right of every woman to make her own decisions about her
pregnancy and to obtain the full range of safe, legal reproductive health care
is being decimated by politicians who presume they know better than women and
the medical professionals they trust.

“Legislative attacks on reproductive
health care in states nationwide have relegated many women to a second class of
citizens whose rights and access to essential health services are diminished
purely by virtue of where they happen to live.

“A woman’s constitutional rights
should not depend on her zip code. We need a federal law that puts women’s
rights, health, and lives first. The Women’s Health Protection Act does exactly
that.

“We applaud the members of Congress
who have introduced this historic legislation, and we urge others to sign on.
They will have the full support of the Center for Reproductive Rights as they
stand up for the health and rights of all women across the U.S.”

In recent years, politicians have
increasingly sought new ways to interfere with personal decision-making and
undermine women’s access to abortion care. State legislatures have been more
active than ever in passing burdensome requirements that single out abortion
providers and services and do nothing to advance women’s health or safety—and,
in fact, ultimately jeopardize women’s health and lives. States enacted a
record-breaking 92 restrictions on abortion in 2011, and over 100 additional
dangerous and unnecessary measures have passed into law since then.

The Women’s Health Protection Act
creates federal protections against state restrictions that fail to protect
women’s health and intrude upon personal decision-making. Under the Women’s
Health Protection Act, states could no longer impose oppressive restrictions on
reproductive health care providers that apply to no similar medical
professionals. Laws could not be enacted that would interfere with women’s
personal, private decision making or their access to the full range of safe,
legal care at the expense of their health. The strong system of regulations
that governs the provision of reproductive health care and truly ensures the
safety of women would be maintained. Dangerous regulations passed under pretext
that stifle access to abortion care and endanger women’s lives would be
prohibited. The individual constitutional rights of every woman would once
again be robustly protected and promoted under the law, no matter where she
lives.

For more than 20 years, the Center
for Reproductive Rights has brought the full power of the U.S. Constitution and
courts to bear to ensure that anti-choice politicians in the U.S. do not turn
back the clock on reproductive rights. The Center’s legal efforts have helped block
harmful and extreme laws attacking women’s rights and health all across the
nation, including recent injunctions against:

The
nation’s most extreme abortion ban in the country, barring abortions as
early as six weeks in North Dakota—before many women even know they are
pregnant

Underhanded
and wholly unnecessary requirements that abortion providers obtain
admitting privileges at a local hospital in North Dakota and
Mississippi—where such a measure, if enacted, would shut down the only
abortion provider in the entire state.

A
law in Oklahoma that banned the use of medication to terminate
pregnancies, even for women suffering from dangerous and life-threatening
ectopic pregnancies

Blatantly
unconstitutional bans on abortions at 12 and 20 weeks of pregnancy in
Arkansas and Arizona, respectively.

A
measure in Kansas that attempted to redefine what constitutes a medical
emergency in a way that would require many pregnant women in
life-threatening situations to wait at least 24 hours before obtaining
emergency abortion care.